Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus finds himself under pressure as calls for elections grow louder, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visits Washington, and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency flags Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in its annual global threat assessment.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus finds himself under pressure as calls for elections grow louder, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visits Washington, and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency flags Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in its annual global threat assessment.

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Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has led Bangladesh’s interim government for nearly 10 months, since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned under pressure from mass protests last August.

Yunus has had a difficult job from day one, tasked with rebuilding Bangladesh after years of government repression and saddled with the high expectations of a public eager to see far-reaching reforms to restore democracy and stability. And he has held his own—commanding considerable respect in the country, especially among young people.

But now the pressure has begun to build, and things are coming to a head. The Bangladeshi public has grown increasingly impatient with an interim government that lacks a mandate, has not set a date for elections, and insists on pursuing comprehensive reforms despite little tangible sign of their progress. The interim government says a national vote will happen by mid-2026.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has been buffeted by bad news: Provisional figures indicate that economic growth in fiscal year 2024-25 will be the lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s law and order situation is getting worse, as violent crime rises.

Last Wednesday, Bangladesh Army chief Waker-uz-Zaman told military officers that elections should happen by December at the latest. The same day, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) took to the streets in protest against the interim government for the first time. The BNP, the main rival of Hasina’s Awami League party, has repeatedly called for early elections.

Then, Nahid Islam—a top leader of last year’s protests who heads a student-run political party, the National Citizen Party (NCP), and former advisor to the interim government—disclosed that Yunus was considering resigning. He has not, but the threat may have been a tactic by Yunus........

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